Swim Team
by PiperM
Summary: What happens when a certain Annabeth Chase trys out for the swim team? An AU love story unlike any other! :)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**Warning! AU!**

"Umm, Hi." Percy said too loudly to the pretty girl sitting next to him. _That was a stupid thing to say,_ he thought to himself, _She's pretty and she's new, ask if she wants a tour or something, dimwit!_

"Do you, uhh, need to be shown around or something?"

"No thanks," she said, obviously trying to be nice, "I've already had a tour."

_Of course she has, it's 6__th__ period, moron._ "Ok, sorry, right-I mean I knew-yeah." Percy sighed, shaking his head at his own incapability to speak. _Well done, Percy, well done._

"I could use some help with my locker though?" she said, almost as a question. _Jump on it, Percy! This is your chance man!_

"Okay," Percy managed a weak smile; this was not his day for suave words. Before, girls had told him that when he acted shy it was cute-not. Percy had always thought that his lack of intelligent words was extremely embarrassing, especially in front of girls.

He followed the new girl to her locker and learned that her name was Annabeth, which was cool; he'd never heard that before. He showed her how to work her locker which she obviously already knew and mentally tucked away her combination, though he doubted he'd ever use it.

Percy went to his own locker and proceeded to math class where he found Annabeth, again. He took great care to sit away from her where she hopefully wouldn't recognize him. Maybe she would forget him and he could try and re-introduce himself later as a much cooler person.

Percy endured the class and ran out as the final bell of the day rang, but didn't follow the other kids out of the school, going to the pool for swim team tryouts. He had made the team every year and was already guaranteed a spot but liked to go anyways.

"Jackson!" Coach Virile called as Percy came out of locker rooms in his swim trunks, "give us a few laps to show these little girls what real swimming is!"

Percy laughed at the coach's rough talk knowing that he was a softie inside and was just trying to intimidate new team members. All the same, however, he jumped in the pool and swam a few laps with different strokes easing through the water at a relaxing but fast pace; he could hear Coach Virile making comments to the kids standing at the water's edge but paid no attention until he popped out of the water and made his way smoothly out of the pool.

"Towel off, Jackson, you're done."

Percy nodded and, taking his towel and heading over to the benches to watch the tryouts. He surveyed the people lining the pool. Most were boys, which he never understood, girls could swim too. He noticed three girls at the end of the line, however, one he recognized, sadly, it was Jenna Mishear; the poor girl had tried out every year from 7th grade until now, their sophomore year. Unfortunately, she couldn't really swim, not well anyway. She was at best doggy-paddling and at worst drowning; she hadn't made the team yet.

He looked down the line further, Jason, Matt, Jared, Michael, Tom and Henry, Selena, Grayson, Andrew and- oh- Annabeth was here? _Great, _Percy thought, _another fantastic episode of me embarrassing myself._

**A\N Sorry, very OOC!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Percy decided to lay low and persuaded himself that Annabeth wouldn't recognize him without the super dorky sweater he had been wearing when they met earlier; he hunched over to try and hide his facial features for good measure.

"Who wants to go first, sweethearts?" Coach Virile said in a dramatically gruff voice, "You wanna go, Mikey?" he raised an eyebrow at Michael's raised hand. Michael rolled his eyes at the Coach's nickname and came to the edge of the pool. "Alright, you're going to swim from-"

"I've been on the team for 3 years; I know how to swim a lap." Michael said bluntly and signaled for Virile to start his stopwatch before jumping in the pool. He swam his lap, making use of a few different strokes and made the team.

The rest of the group followed suit, everyone had made the team except Jenna Mishear and Henry Baker, and only two people were left: Jason and Annabeth. Jason was Percy's cousin, they were only about 2 months apart, and Percy had been training him over the summer because he had finally agreed to try out for swim team. Percy leaned forward, excited for his cousin who had volunteered to go next, as he leaned, he realized Annabeth was staring at him.

"Hi!" she mouthed, waving, before returning her attention to Coach Virile.

_She recognized you, Percy! Stupid, stupid, stupid._ Percy shook his head, why did this kind of thing always happen when he met girls?

Jason jumped in the pool.

**Annabeth's POV **(A/N- sorry about the change in perspective, but I felt it was sort of necessary, I'll try not to change POVs in the middle of a chapter in the future.)

_Crap. _Annabeth thought to herself, _why am I doing this again? _She watched as one of the boys, Matt, swam, she knew perfectly well why she was here, "leave no extra-curricular activity untouched" Annabeth didn't care what it was, any activity where she learned something, and got to stay at school longer, was an activity she wanted to be a part of. As a very smart girl, Annabeth had to find things she couldn't do well, like swimming, and approach them as intellectually-stimulating challenges; so here she was.

As Annabeth recalled all of this, she watched the people before her swim, each one doing something she couldn't, which frustrated her-she was very competitive. She tried to compute the trajectory and force of their arms and legs in the water so she might try and replicate the system, but swimming just didn't seem like something you could do that with. As the line ahead of her slowly dwindled Annabeth stole a glance at the boy who had gone first and was sitting on the benches, Percy –something? How had he done it? When she looked, however, she recognized him-her locker buddy! She internally laughed, recalling when they had first met, earlier that day. "Hi!" she mouthed, and waved at him; she knew she had recognized that name.

"Annie?" Couch Virile called, "you're up!" he winked at her, obviously trying to be reassuring, but she found it a bit creepy.

She gave the coach a weak smile before practically falling into the pool during what was supposed to be a graceful dive. She flung her arms and legs about, internally scolding herself for not studying swimming technique books before coming. Eventually, she made in around the pool and hit her head on the wall before dragging herself out of the water.

Coach Virile helped her up and handed her a towel.

"Did I make it?" Annabeth said with a little too much doubt in her voice.

"Well…" the coach dragged his words out, "You could, uhh, use a little work."

Annabeth fought back the sudden urge to cry, she hated not being able to do things.

Coach Virile sighed, giving in at her water filled eyes, "Alright, why don't I pair you with a team member and you can practice for a few weeks then try again, okay?"

Annabeth shrugged, "Okay, thanks." She sighed; working with other people wasn't her forte. As long as it wasn't with that kid, Percy-

"Let's go introduce you to Percy Jackson." The coach interrupted her thoughts, smiling as though Percy was his own son. "He's excellent; I think you can learn a lot from him!"

Coach Virile led her to where Percy was high-fiving Jason.

"Good job, bro!"

Jason laughed, "You too, man!"

"Percy!" the coach interrupted. "I have a project for you."

_Great, _thought Annabeth, _now I'm a project._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Percy's POV**

Percy watched as the girl, Annabeth, walked towards the pool and tried _really_ hard no to laugh when she practically face planted into the water, she swam (if you could call it swimming) extremely slowly and poorly, it was almost painful to watch, but it was too hilarious to turn away. After what seemed like ages, Annabeth finally slogged out of the pool and went to talk to the coach. Percy could see Virile's hesitance when she asked whether she had made the team.

_I wonder how he's going to break it to her that she's terrible… _Percy contemplated the matter but soon it looked like they had reached some sort of compromise.

Jason came behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, "Dude, look at her hair," Jason said, pointing to Annabeth. Percy laughed, noticing for the first time that her usual curls had turned into an explosion of frizz from the water. _It looks like she electrocuted herself._

"Good job, bro!" Percy said high fiving Jason.

"You two, man!" Jason laughed.

"Percy! I have a project for you." Coach Virile announced. Percy could see Annabeth rolling her eyes, "I want you to take your individual training sessions and teach Annabeth a little more about swimming," unaware of the discomfort already in place between them, Coach Virile continued, "It'll be a good workout for both of you. Does that sound all right?"

"Yeah-I guess, I mean, uhh, sure?" Percy cursed himself internally, t_hat may have been one of the stupidest things I have ever said in my entire life._

He tried to smile at Annabeth but it turned out as more of a grimace/smirk. Annabeth smiled back and this time Percy couldn't help but actually smile, she was _really_ attractive. Coach Virile looked at them both and then shrugged, "Bye now, cupcakes." He said and walked towards the exit.

Percy sort of zoned out then and watched tiny ripples in the water.

"So, training sessions?" Annabeth asked, waving her hand in front of Percy's face.

"Oh, umm, right we can just, uhh-" Percy said incomprehensively, watching her hair settle down and return to its wavy corkscrews as it dried.

"Let's meet every Wednesday and Friday, okay?" she asked.

"Okay." He said, trying to think of something else to say, _ask her if she needs a ride, carry her books, do something, stupid_, he thought to himself. "Do you uhh need a ride home or, umm you know, something?" Percy asked, trying to push back his untamable hair.

She laughed at his question, "I was going to walk home, but sure." She smiled at him reassuringly, just let me put on my regular clothes, I'll meet you by the front doors."

Percy nodded, grabbing his backpack from under the bench, "Okay."

He walked slowly down the deserted hallway, dragging his feet along the tiles and his hand along the rows of lockers.

"Hey!"

Percy jumped, "Oh, it's just you," he said.

Annabeth smiled as they walked out of the building, "So which one is your car?" Percy pointed to a navy blue pickup truck near the back of the lot, he hadn't been able to afford a great car, but he took great care of the one he did buy.

Annabeth skipped to the door and hopped in.

Percy climbed in the other side and put his key in the ignition. "Where to, Annabeth?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Don't know if I mentioned this before, but I don't own PJO. (That was my disclaimer) **

**Annabeth's POV**

Annabeth gave Percy directions as they talked and drove, she found out that Percy's birth father had died in a plane crash right before he was born; he had had a terrible step-father until he was 12, when his mom had filed for a divorce. Now he had a new step dad, Paul, who was really cool.

Annabeth was surprised by how much they had in common; she explained to him that her mother had died in birth with her and she had a step-mom who wasn't too bad, but she and Annabeth had never really gotten along.

"Left here." She said and pointed down a street lined in apartment buildings.

"No way!" Percy said, turning on his signal, "I live around this block!" He pointed toward a blue skyscraper to their right.

Annabeth smiled at him, "Hooray, a car pool buddy." She said sarcastically, though inside she was kind of excited. She liked Percy; he was really sweet, and she could tell how much he cared about his mom, and, if she was going to be working with him for swim team…might as well get to know him right?

She pointed to a building and Percy pulled in front of it, hopping out of the car to help her get her book bag that they had stuffed in the back.

"Here ya go!" he said, handing it to her.

"Thanks." She smiled, biting her lip and trying to think of something more to say. It was weird; she had known Percy for what, 4 hours if you included their awkward encounter at the lockers? But she already felt like she had known him for years.

She waved over her shoulder and shouted a quick goodbye over her shoulder as she walked into the building.

**Percy's POV**

They had been talking for a while when Annabeth pointed out a few turns to him. Percy turned onto her street as she pointed to her apartment building amongst the rows of blandly colored straight up buildings.

_She must hate it._ He thought, _living in the lamest architectural part of New York when there are such amazing buildings all around._ It startled him that he knew that. In the 20 minute drive from Goode to her house, they had learned so much about each other. His thoughts changed, _well done, Percy, first day of school and you've made friends with the prettiest girl ever. All in a day's work._ He smiled and then turned to Annabeth, shocked as he realized where they were.

"No way! I live around this block!" he exclaimed.

"Hooray, a car pool buddy." She said monotonously, Percy hoped she didn't mean it the way she had said it and looked over to try and read her face, but she was already unbuckling her seat belt.

Percy finished parking and hoped out of the car to get Annabeth's backpack for her.

"Thanks!" she said, calling out a goodbye over her shoulder.

Percy got back in the car. He felt awesome, there had been a good swim team try out, he probably wasn't going to flunk English this year because his step-dad was his teacher, and he had met a really smart _really_ beautiful girl and befriended her and been handed and excuse to spend more time with her. Win, win, win!

Percy opened the door to his family's apartment and smelled blue cookies; this day just got better and better. He grabbed one off the tray and screamed as he burned his finger and then again as he burned his tongue.

"Ah, the lovely voice of my son, how I love to hear it." Percy's mom, Sally, walked in the room, rolling her eyes. "These are for later!" she said, grabbing the cookie tray with oven mitts and placing it on top of the refrigerator. "How was your day?"

"Goobd" Percy mumbled through his hand as he attempted to keep the cookie crumbs in his mouth.

"Make any new friends?"

"No," Percy said, unconvincingly.

"Meet any girls?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Percy shook his head and grabbed another cookie before running upstairs to his room, pointing to his backpack and yelling "homework" over his shoulder.

Today had been a great day.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Percy's POV**

Percy walked into the school building and waved at Annabeth, today was Wednesday (his and Annabeth's first "training session") and he was way more excited than he should have been.

_She looks really pretty today…_he couldn't stop thinking that. Man, she was gorgeous. She waved back at him and smiled, pulling a pair of goggles from her locker and waving them in his direction as if to say_ I remembered!_ He gave her a thumbs up and walked to his own locker.

Percy had always found math class boring; he remembered when his cousin Nico had said _Class with Mr. Bernard is as boring as a boneyard. _Of course, being boys, this statement had been followed by an argument over whether or not boneyards were boring, but right now Percy could practically feel himself withering away in the pile of quadratic equations that were being taught.

Annabeth, on the other hand, was soaking up the material. _She's like a sponge of information._ Percy thought absentmindedly, twiddling with his pencil. But thinking about sponges only made him think of water and then he would get all excited again thinking about the swim training after school.

Percy was mentally picturing Annabeth's water-soaked frizz-electrocution hair cycle when the bell rang really loudly and he practically ran out of the classroom hearing Mr. Bernard's "The bell does not dismiss you, I do!" from the classroom.

Percy practically sprinted to the locker rooms to get ready for swimming. He had made up what I guess you could call a lesson plan-but Percy hated that term-for this training session. _This was going to be perfect._

He had been so happy this morning that he accidently brushed his teeth twice. Obviously he made up for it by eating tons of blue waffles, but still-it had come as a shock, seeing as he rarely remembered to brush his teeth at all.

Percy grabbed a towel and headed toward the pool where he was surprised to see Annabeth already waiting on a bench near the edge of the water.

"Wow," he said in surprise, "Didn't expect you to be here so early."

She blushed furiously, "I guess I was a little excited."

Percy grinned in the lopsided manner he continuously tried to correct in the mirror (it hadn't worked) "let's get in then!"

She waded into the pool after he dived.

"So, how are you going to teach me to swim?" she asked hesitantly, holding herself up on the edge of the pool.

"Well-umm, I guess we could, uhh…" he fumbled with his words, _why does she have to be so frickin beautiful?!_ Percy hated how he couldn't speak normally around Annabeth like they had in the car the other day. I t was just that here, in the water, he was supposed to be the expert. He couldn't just let her do all the talking.

"That sounds just 'uhh'" she mocked. She dipped her head under water and came back up again, treading water, her hair frizzing around her.

"Well," Percy started to laugh, "treading water is a good place to start, but you might want to pull back the mane first." He pointed to the curly afro she had acquired from the water.

Annabeth blushed and punched his shoulder, taking a rubber band off her wrist and pulling her hair into a relatively tame ponytail.

The two practiced treading water, kicking, holding your breath and all the basics, finally starting on some simple strokes near the end of the two hours they had designated for the training session.

Then they got out of the pool and Annabeth's hair returned to its natural princess curl as they dried off.

"You know. Percy?" she said, almost as a question, "I don't think Coach Virile could have picked anyone better to teach me." And with that, Annabeth kissed him on the cheek and ran to the locker room.

**A/N Please R&R! I would love to hear what you guys want to happen, are there any characters you want to see? Anyone specific plot lines? Review or PM me! Please! :D Thank you!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter…I forget

**A/N Sorry it took so long to update! My kitten chewed the computer cord and my computer died and deleted all my files and I couldn't get it restarted. :( But this chapter is finally here! Yay! **

**Percy's POV**

Spending time with Annabeth had been great. For the last month, they had been meeting twice a week if not more, to practice swimming. The only problem was that Percy was spending _way_ too much time thinking about Annabeth and not enough thinking about things like homework and upcoming tests. Woops.

Normally, Percy wouldn't have been worried about the big red "C"s and "D"s coming in on his assignments, but what he hadn't realized, was that you needed a B- average to participate in any extra-curricular activities. Like swim team.

When Coach Virile came up to Percy and told him to get his grades up…Well, let's just say that his mom wasn't very happy.

"Perseus Jackson!" She yelled, "Get down here!"

Sally Jackson usually wasn't one to get angry, but when she knew Percy wasn't doing his best; she wanted to know why.

"Percy…" she started, pulling him into the kitchen and seating him at a chair, "Why didn't you tell me you were failing biology?" she asked questioningly, as she too took a seat.

"Listen-" he started, "I-"

She held up her hand, "There are no good excuses for failing your best class." She shook her head, "how am I supposed to get it into your head that school is important?!" She looked him over. "I shouldn't have to wait to get a report card to know how you're doing."

Percy nodded, waiting for her to finish.

"I'm going to sign you up for a math tutor." She said finally; Percy gaped at her.

"A what?" he said, disbelievingly.

"I know you can catch up in your other classes on your own," she explained, "but I know from personal experience that math is not something you want to leave to chance." She looked back at him, warning in her eyes. "I'm calling your teachers after two weeks. Please at least try?"

"Mom-" Percy started, "I've just been distracted, I-"

She cut him off, "I love you, Percy." She said, "You need to understand that I only do what is best for you."

Percy nodded.

"Thank goodness that's over with." She sighed, "Want some blue gumdrops?"

Percy grinned, _now she's back_. He loved how they would have short bursts of serious conversation before going back to their quirky, fun life.

Now, though, he was actually going to have to study, no more staring at Annabeth's hair during English, no more playing out fanciful scenes of Annabeth and himself as a couple. He was actually going to have to get his grades up if he wanted to stay on good terms with his mom or stay on swim team.

After dinner, Percy waited in shame at the table as his mom called the school and asked for a math tutor. When she hung up, she laughed at Percy's frown.

"I'm sure it can't be that bad, Percy."

He looked up at her and drooped his shoulders, "Yes it can."

She shook her head and handed him a piece of paper, "You'll meet your student tutor in this room after school on Wednesdays.

_Wednesdays?_ "No, mom!" he exclaimed. "I can't! Not Wednesdays!"

She looked at him and raised her eyebrows, "Why?" she smirked, "Got a hot date?"

Percy sighed, he didn't really want to tell his mom about Annabeth but…After he finished explaining the arrangement, he looked up at his mom, expecting her to say something along the lines of, _"Oh, well then forget math! You have a pretty girl to see on Wednesdays, who cares about grades!"_

But instead was greeted by, "I'm sorry, Percy. Grades before girls." And that was all she would say.

"Hey, Percy!" Annabeth shouted across the crowded locker hallway the next day, she pushed through some people to get to him. "I need to tell you something!"

Percy tried to pretend he hadn't heard, he didn't want to admit to someone smart liked her that he had to take extra math lessons and he definitely didn't want to tell her they would have to stop Wednesday practices.

But she caught up to him (Duh, the were going to the same class) "Percy! I need to talk to you!"

"Oh, hi." He said, tying to be nonchalant.

"Alright?" she said, "I'll ask you what's wrong later. Listen, I'm really sorry, but I can't make our Wednesday swim practices."

"Wait," he turned towards her, "What? _I_ can't make our Wednesday swim practices!"

"Why?" They asked at the same time.

"I'll go first," she compromised, "_I_ have to tutor someone in math on Wednesdays. This could be my first step towards a good scholarship!"

"I-I uhh…" Percy stumbled, realizing what was going on. "I-"

The bell rang, cutting him off.

"We have to go to class!" she said, dragging him into the room, "Tell me later!"

Percy could only hope that some other kid was getting tutored on Wednesdays.

**A/N Hey, everyone! Thanks for reading my story, and also thank you for the great reviews-they really helped me decide what was going to happen! **

**So, obviously, Annabeth is going to tutor Percy. Haha! Lots of you have been saying you want to see more characters. So-here's a poll!**

**Do you want to see…**

**Nico**

**Rachel**

**Thalia**

**Piper**

**Other**

**Review or PM! I'll count up the votes on Friday and tell you the answer! : D**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7? 8? I really need to figure out what chapter I'm on. Oh well, it's not like it really matters.

**A/N Hello my dearest readers! Right now Nico and Thalia are tied to be entered into the story with Rachel following in a close second (third?). Let me remind you to please vote for whom you want!**

**Also, a note to ****All Anonymous Reviewers!**

**Hey! I think it's awesome that there are so many of you anonymous fellows out there! However, I **_**HATE**_** not being able to respond to your reviews! You have some great ideas that I can't use because I need to give you due credit! So please get an account if not just so I can PM you!**

_**Anonymous votes will **_**NOT**_** count in the poll!**_

**Thanks! **

Until this moment, Percy had had no idea how unpleasant it would be to wake up to the face of Mr. Bernard. He hadn't even known how tired he was when he walked into math class.

Over the past two days, Percy had stayed up late thinking about what he would say if he walked into the tutorial room and found Annabeth there Wednesday. He hadn't come up with anything.

After their brief encounter where Annabeth had told him she would be tutoring on Wednesdays, Annabeth seemed to have completely forgotten that Percy had something to tell her and Percy had lost the desire to tell her.

It was awful, every day at lunch-where Percy and Annabeth now sat together-Annabeth would go on about how she was so excited to start math tutoring and how she had this cool lesson plan and architecture, blah, blah, blah. Percy couldn't imagine what Annabeth would think of him when she found out. In 20 minutes.

Today was Wednesday and they were in math class-the last class of the day- and Percy had fallen asleep. But it wasn't his fault! Mr. Bernard had been going on and on in his monotonous voice, and Annabeth's hair looked really pretty, and…okay, yeah, it was his fault.

"Mr. Jackson?" Mr. Bernard hissed, his face inches away.

Percy slumped down further in his chair, "Yes?" he said, nonchalantly.

Mr. Bernard raised his eyebrows meaningfully, "If your last report card was not a clue, Jackson," he whispered, "you are not doing well in my class. I would give you a detention, but I don't want you to be late to meet your tutor." He explained. "So I will let it slide this time. Alright?"

"Yup." Percy said, popping the "P".

Mr. Bernard backed up and Percy heard snickers throughout the class.

"Alright, class!" Mr. Bernard said, returning to his podium, "Take out your workbooks! On page 79 we will start trigonometric functions!" Annabeth looked excited, "Start with the prerequisite quiz tonight everyone!" he shouted as the bell rang.

Percy walked slowly out of the door; it was probably the longest time it had ever taken him to leave a classroom, especially at the end of school, but he wanted to postpone the tutoring session for as long as possible.

When he finally dragged himself from his locker to the hallway where he knew he would find Room 251, the place he was sure had been designed for his torture. He looked in the small window and saw Annabeth sitting there, already getting out her books.

He sighed and pushed open the door.

"Percy!" she said, "What are you doing here?"

He grimaced.

"Oh." She sounded surprised.

Percy hit his head against the wall.

"It's okay!" she rushed to cover up. "Lots of people get tutored! There's nothing wrong with it."

"Percy bit his lip and shook his head, "You say that, but it was just yesterday that you said you were sad for whoever was stupid enough to be failing math." He said, obviously hurt.

"Percy," she said, reaching for his arm, "you know that's not what I meant."

He shrugged off her hand, "Can we just get this over with?"

Annabeth sighed, "I'm sorry Percy, if I had known-"

"It doesn't matter, Annabeth." Percy cut her off, "that's the point; I didn't _want_ you to know. It's not every day that a guy gets a cute, funny _and_ smart friend. I didn't want to ruin that."

Annabeth blushed at his compliment, "Umm…Thanks." She smiled, "but nothing's going to ruin or friendship."

Percy wrinkled his nose at the word-_friendship_.

"Remember my miserable swimming failure? Well," Annabeth said, sitting back down, "think of this as repayment for helping me."

Percy grinned lopsidedly against his will. "Yeah, okay."

The rest of the hour past surprisingly quickly as Annabeth showed Percy fun ways to remember formulas and they returned to the easy talk they were used to. When it came time to leave, Percy was surprised that he almost didn't want to go.

He turned around, as he was about to exit the door, "Hey, Annabeth?" she looked up, "Swim practice tomorrow?"

"I'd like that."

"Need a ride?" he offered her his hand and grinned as she took it.

Maybe this whole tutoring thing wouldn't be so bad after all.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Hey, everyone! Friday was the final polling-day, and here are the results!**

**Rachel-8**

**Thalia-7**

**Nico-4**

**Other-5**

**Thanks to the people who reviewed! : D Rachel AND Thalia will be included in this story. Now onto what you actually came here to read…**

**Chapter 8**

"Percy?" a soft voice whispered in his ear. "Sweetheart," the voice continued, its owner shaking his shoulder lightly, "it's time to get up."

"Five more minutes, Annabeth." Percy mumbled into his pillow.

"Annabeth?" the voice said in a much louder tone, "Who's Annabeth?"

Percy shot upright in his bed, hitting his head on the headboard and moaning. "Oh, hi, Mom." He grumbled, heaving himself from his warm comforter onto the cold floor.

She put her hands on her hips. "You can tell me about this Annabeth later." She said, raising her eyebrows meaningfully, "Right now you need to hurry up to go to school. Ever heard of an alarm clock?"

"I love you more than any alarm clock, mom." He said, smirking.

"Ever heard of an alarm clock?" Annabeth said, repeating the words his mother had told him earlier that morning. "This is the third time you've been late to school in a week! You live, what, 10 minutes away?"

"I need more sleep than you do." Percy said, shrugging off her comment, "I'm a growing boy."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at his last comment, "Won't be too tired to swim after school today, will you?"

Percy grinned, "Nah. I don't think so."

She pulled something out of her locker, "Here," she said handing him a watch, "It's an extra," she said, noticing the look of concern on his face, "maybe you can show up on time for things, hmm?"

Percy took it reluctantly and put it on, "Umm, thanks." He said, awkwardly.

"You're welcome." She said, waving him off to his next class, "I'll see you at lunch!"

When lunch finally came (_There _was a time Percy would never forget.), Percy hurried from his class to be the first in the lunch line; he went ahead and ordered for Annabeth too, knowing she would be the last one out of her class.

When he finished he waved to where he saw Annabeth on the other side of the room and gestured to the trays he was holding. Annabeth gave him a thumbs-up and pushed through the other highschoolers to get to "their" table.

"You didn't have to get me my lunch, you know." Annabeth said digging through her purse to reimburse him. He stopped her hand with his own.

"It's fine." He said, chuckling, "it's the least I could do." He said, fingering the watch she had given him earlier. Annabeth noticed to, and smiled gratefully, but Percy could tell it bothered her-she was too independent; she didn't want to feel like she needed help. _Except in swimming_. Percy thought to himself, smirking.

Annabeth gave him a funny look, "Why are you smiling like that?" she asked, fighting back the urge to laugh.

"Don't worry about It." a new voice said from behind them, "Trust me, you don't want to know what Percy's thinking."

Annabeth turned to see a girl with wild, flaming red hair, and piercing eyes standing behind her. "I'm Rachel," the girl said, sticking out her hand, "mind if I sit here?"

**So, short chapter, huh! I wanted to leave everyone with a cliffy. :D what will happen next? Will Percy and Annabeth be together, or will Rachel stand in the way? Thalia to come! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**A/N Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I'll try and be better about it. :) BTW-this chapter is from Annabeth's POV.**

"Hey, Rachel!" Percy said, getting up to hug her.

Annabeth looked back and forth between them as Rachel sat next to Percy. Percy turned to her,

"Oh, Rachel, this is my friend Annabeth!" he said, remembering she was there.

Annabeth unwillingly gritted her teeth at the word "friend" and then cursed herself for doing so-_We _are_ just friends-_ she reminded herself, she turned back to the conversation.

"I thought you were going to go to that all-girl school in New Hampshire your dad talked about?" Percy said, confused.

"Yeah, I thought so too, but I talked to him about my art projects, and he didn't like it, but he said if I keep my grades up and finish Calculus and my business classes before I graduate I can stay." Rachel told Percy.

"Rachel's really into art," Percy explained unnecessarily. Seriously, -the girl was practically covered in art. Doodles and paint splatters covered her ripped jeans, and streaks of color popped out from her already bright red hair, her arms were covered in writing, like she was constantly thinking of ideas she didn't think she would remember.

"Cool." Annabeth said lamely, and gave a weak smile.

"Are you okay, Annabeth?" Percy asked, obviously concerned, "You look sick."

Rachel tilted her head and looked at Annabeth, "It's cool, Annie, the food here makes me sick too." She said, holding up a rainbow lunchbox with even more writing covering it.

"Please don't call me that." Annabeth said bluntly, "I've got to go." She said, getting up from the table and practically running from the cafeteria.

Annabeth ran into the bathroom and past a group of girls applying thick coats of makeup.

She didn't know why it bothered her so much. Obviously Percy had other friends, just because _she_ didn't, didn't mean he couldn't.

_But Rachel is…._ Annabeth couldn't think what Rachel was. She was just something Annabeth wasn't.

And it wasn't like Percy and Rachel were dating-he would have told Annabeth that, right? Not that it really mattered.

_But it _does_ matter._ Annabeth thought to herself, and burst into tears. She came out of the stall she'd been hiding in and went to the nurse's office. She told the nurse, Ms. Alice, she felt sick before calling her dad and asking him to pick her up.

When she got home she reached for her phone in her backpack to check the time and saw she had a message.

_Annabeth,_

_Hi! This is Rachel, I'm borrowing Percy's phone. First off sorry I called you Annie, I didn't know you didn't like it. Won't happen again! It was nice to meet you! Percy says you're really cool! I hope we can hang out sometime when you feel better, seriously, that lunch food? It's disgusting. : D _

_-R_

Annabeth sighed; it would be better if Rachel weren't so nice. She lay back in her bed as another message popped up:

_Hey Annabeth. Sorry you're sick! You don't have to come to swim practice. :) See you at school tomorrow?_

_-Percy_

Annabeth's heart sped up as she read the text. What did that mean? She flipped herself over and shoved her face into a pillow. She knew what it meant – she liked Percy. A lot.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**A/N- Hi all! I promise I will be writing more often now! :D How are you all? I would love for you guys to PM or review so I can get a feel for what you want to see in my story. **

**Special Thanks to **PJOWisegirlandSeaweedBrain**! You're super awesome!**

Annabeth reluctantly went to school the next day because she wasn't really sick. That, and she _loved_ school-she just didn't want to see Percy or Rachel, so there really wasn't any point in not going.

As she pushed open the doors she saw that she was early and went to sit down at one of the tables in the entrance to wait until she could go back to her locker. Another girl came in and sat next to her.

The girl was kind of Goth looking; she wore black skinny jeans with lace up boots over them and a dark blue sweatshirt. The girl noticed Annabeth staring and stuck out a black nail polished hand.

"Hey, I'm Thalia."

"Annabeth."

"That's kind of a weird name." Thalia said bluntly.

Annabeth couldn't help but smile, for some reason she really liked this girl's brutal honesty.

"I agree," she admitted, "but I'm not about to tell my parents that."

Thalia laughed, "Do we have chemistry together?" she asked.

"Umm, maybe? Mr. Cardinal? Third hour?"

"Yup. Worst block of the day."

Annabeth nodded her head in agreement.

The continued talking as they walked to their lockers-which were just 5 spaces away from each other.

As Annabeth opened her locker a scrap of paper fell out. From Percy.

_Hey, it's Percy. You feeling okay? Rachel and I were going to go to the new bakery after school. She's painting a mural for them. Want to come? See you 5__th__ hour._

Thalia walked over and looked at the paper.

"Boyfriend?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "I wish."

Thalia wiggled her eyebrows, "Are you going to go?"

"Yeah, probably, want to come with?"

"Sure," Thalia shrugged and slammed her own locker.

Annabeth smiled; at least she had another friend now.

Percy walked into the school with Rachel; he had given her a ride to school that day.

He scribbled a note on a scrap of paper with one of Rachel's rainbow, strawberry scented pens and stuck it in her locker, mentally congratulating himself on remembering her combination from when they first met.

He walked into his English class and waved to his step-dad and teacher, Paul.

"Hey, Paul, I'm going to that new bakery on South Montgomery with Rachel and maybe Annabeth after school, okay? Rachel's painting a mural there."

"Sure, Percy. I'll tell your mom."

Percy turned to walk to his seat but Paul caught his arm,

"Are you ever going to ask that girl out?" he asked, smirking.

"Paul, her name is Annabeth, okay? And no, she doesn't like me. I'm not going to get rejected and then ruin our friendship. That would suck."

Paul shrugged and smiled knowingly. Percy rolled his eyes and sat down.

He ran into Annabeth briefly later in the day when she confirmed that she would go to the bakery and might be bringing her new friend, Tania or something? Percy hadn't ever met her.

He met up with Rachel, to drive her to the bakery and they waited at Percy's car for the two other girls. Percy really needed some guy friends.


	11. Chapter 11

Ch. 11

**Hey people! Sorry for the wait! Here's chapter 11!**

**Rachel's POV**

Percy tapped his fingers against the car door as he waited for the girls to show up. Rachel stuck her head out the car door.

"Are they coming?"

"Nope."

Rachel sighed and brought her head back in. She was so mad at Percy. Not that he had done anything wrong. Well…he kind of had. For some selfish reason, she had thought that she would be his main friend, or more than that maybe…and now this girl, Annabeth. Uhh! She couldn't stay mad at either of them. Frustrating nice people. She went back to doodling on her arm in blue sharpie.

**Percy's POV**

Percy saw two girls coming their way.

"They're coming, Rach." He said, swinging himself into the front seat. He saw Rachel roll her eyes at the nickname but ignored it.

"Hey Annabeth!" he said as she got into the backseat, "Feeling better?"

"I'm fine." She said mildly, "This is Thalia." She gestured to the Goth-ish girl getting into the car next to her."

"Hey, Thalia." Percy and Rachel said at the same time.

"Jinx! You owe me a soda!" she screamed at him.

Percy pulled his car onto South Montgomery and parked as close to the bakery as he could.

He hoped out and opened the door for the girls before grabbing Rachel's oversized paint bucket out of the car and handing it to her.

He ran up to Thalia and Annabeth who were entering the store.

"Hey!" he said, catching up to them, "I'm Percy." He finished, shaking Thalia's hand.

"I know." She stated, bluntly.

"Okay then." Percy said, eyebrows furrowed.

Thalia and Annabeth made their way to one of the first tables and Percy followed, after helping Rachel set up her paints, but decided against sitting there when he saw the girls whispering to each other. He went up to the counter instead and ordered 3 hot chocolates and a box of assorted mini muffins for them.

Coming back to the table he set a mug in front of each of the two girls and put the muffins in the center. Automatically, both girls reached into their wallets to repay him.

"Can't a guy be nice?" He said stopping them. "It's fine!"

Annabeth gave in, but Thalia insisted on paying, and Percy took the money reluctantly. The three sat talking for a while, and then Rachel came up to them, grabbing a muffin.

"So," she said through her mouth full, "if you were painting a mural, would the giraffe be wearing a full tuxedo or just a bow tie?" she asked.

After a couple minutes, they decided that a full tuxedo would indeed be better, and Rachel went back to work, stretching her parade of well-dressed zoo animals eating baked goods across the walls.

"So, Percy," Thalia said, breaking the silence, "do you like anyone?"

"Uhh…" Both Annabeth and Percy blushed bright red. "No." Percy mumbled unconvincingly.

"Okay." Thalia said, shrugging.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Annabeth said abruptly, "Thalia, why don't you come with me?"

"Why?" asked Thalia cheekily.

Annabeth glared at her until Thalia gave a reluctant. "Oh, yeah, okay." And followed her to the bathroom.

Percy sat there looking confused, then thought for the second time that day. _Yeah, I really need some guy friends._

"What the heck, Thalia?" Annabeth asked as soon as the door closed behind them.

"What? It was an innocent question!"

"No! Now he's going to know I like him!"

"Uh, no offense Annabeth, but he didn't seem to catching on to quick."

Annabeth blushed slightly and smiled thinking of poor Percy's confused face.

They both stood there in the middle of the bathroom awkwardly until they heard another voice.

"If I were you I'd just tell the boy you like him! Heaven knows they're too slow to get it otherwise."

Annabeth turned to see an old woman coming out of the stall who was giving her the advice.

"Um, okay." She said.

"Trust me! She said as she washed her hands. "I did that and look at me now, Married happily for 50 years!"

The girls just looked at her, stunned, until she walked out of the restroom, leaving the two girls alone. They both started giggling.

"I never thought I would get relationship advice from someone that old!" Annabeth said between heaves of laughter.

The two tried to fight down their laughing as they went out of the bathroom, only to see the elderly woman sitting down with an even older gentleman at a table on the other side of the room, which re-ignited their giggles.

Percy stared as Thalia and Annabeth came out of the bathroom, laughing hysterically. Percy shook his head, whatever girls did in there, he would never know.

**That's it for now, folks! Sorry about the wait! And Happy New Years!**


	12. Chapter 12

Ch. 12

**A/N-Finally! I feel awful for not updating in so long! But here it is…the next chapter… and it's about time. :)**

Annabeth finished brushing her teeth and gave herself a confident look in the mirror. "You've got this, Annabeth," she told herself as she rinsed off the brush and set it in its holder. "Today is the day you show that swimming pool who's the boss," she said, forcing her curls into a ponytail on top of her head.

Annabeth ran into her room and threw on ripped jeans and tennis shoes with her favorite top and a new owl scarf she had bought on a shopping trip she had been forced into with Rachel. She liked Rachel and everything, but was now, she was certain that Percy liked her after what had happened the week before…

_Flashback to the week before…_

Like any other day, Annabeth and Percy sat down at "their table" to eat lunch, but this time it was just them. Thalia was in lunch detention for letting the Biology frogs go before a dissection, and Rachel was in Paris with her family (did I mention she was _crazy rich?_), so it as just like old times.

Percy looked really uncomfortable though, so Annabeth broke the silence…

"Umm, you okay, Percy?" she asked, taking a bite of the peanut butter and nutella sandwich she had brought to school that day.

"What?" he asked, coming out of his thoughtful trance, "Oh, right, yeah…"

"What's on your mind?"

He sighed and shook his head before answering, "I really like this one girl…"he started. _Dang it! _Annabeth thought, _he likes Rachel...ugh!_ "She's amazing, brilliant and gorgeous, though…" he said mournfully.

"Why does that have anything to do with it?" Annabeth asked, confused.

"Hello?" said Percy, "she's waayyy out of my league."

"Out of your league?!" Annabeth said, "You could be with any girl in the school! You're fantastic!" she said, then covered her mouth with her hand. _Nice going, Annabeth. _She thought sarcastically, _now he knows you like him._

"You know what? I think I might ask her out." He said, confidently.

"Great." Annabeth said as enthusiastically as she could. She knew Rachel liked Percy and… after she thought about it, she'd be fine with them being together. She just wanted Percy to be happy.

Later that week she had asked him a few times if he ever asked out the girl he liked, but he just kept saying he hadn't found the right time.

_End Flashback…_

Annabeth pushed all those thoughts into the back of her head; there was no time to think about Percy. Today she was going to retry out for swim team, and with Percy's help, she was going to kick this try out's butt.

**Whoohoo! I am already writing the next chapter, so it should be out in a few days. Comment what you want to happen! **


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

**A/N- Yay! More Updating! Thank you for all the reviews, :) especially **PJOWisegirlandSeaweedBrain** and** Spitthatfyre. **You two made my day. Every review I can get is amazing. (Anyone know any communities I could try to get this story into?)**

**Okay...story time…**

The rest of the day had passed without incident. Rachel was back from Paris now, so Annabeth was just waiting for Percy to ask her out. During lunch all she could think was _any minute now…no? Hmm…oh, he's probably about to...no…_ she had no idea why he hadn't asked her out yet.

Annabeth shivered in her swimsuit as she got ready for tryouts. She felt pretty confident after her practices with Percy, but she was still nervous. She looked back at the benches behind her where Percy sat and he gave her his trademark sideways grin and a reassuring thumbs up.

"Ready?" Coach Virile asked.

Annabeth paused for a moment. Getting on the swim team would mean no more swim practices with Percy, and since he was getting his grades up in math, soon she wouldn't have to tutor him. Would this be the end of their friendship? Would he go off with Rachel and forget about her?

She pushed all those thoughts to the back of her head. She wanted to do this. She needed to do this. With new resolve, Annabeth nodded a yes to the coach and pulled her goggles over her eyes. The coach nodded at her as he started his stopwatch, and Annabeth dove into the swimming pool.

Percy fiddled with the watch Annabeth had given him. He always wore it now, but still managed to be late for just about everything.

He was afraid that Annabeth had gotten the wrong idea the week before when he said he liked someone. He had basically given away that he liked her, but then…he couldn't describe it. She had seemed upset, like she didn't want him to do anything, and…well let's just say he decided it was probably best not to ask her out.

He didn't want to ruin their friendship, plus Rachel would probably be upset…in any case, he decided against it.

Percy saw Annabeth look back at him from where she was standing by the pool; he gave her a thumbs-up and grinned. He was so proud of her; the effort she put into everything was incredible…she was the most amazing girl he had ever met.

Then Annabeth dived into the pool. Percy left his spot on the bench and went to the side of the pool, to see her better. Coach Virile came up and clapped him on the back, as Annabeth executed stroke after perfect stroke.

"You've done well, kid," he said keeping his eyes trained on Annabeth, "You've turned a drowning rat of frizzy hair into and excellent swimmer."

"Thanks," Percy said, smiling, "but it was all her."

"It's a miracle then. Think she'll be ready for competition next week?" he asked.

"Definitely." Percy said.

Just then, Annabeth's head popped up from the water. Percy grabbed her arms and lifted her out of the pool.

"I think that-" she started, but Percy wouldn't let her finish.

"You are the most amazing person I have ever met," he said, breathlessly, and with that he kissed her. Hard. He didn't know if this was what she wanted, but for this moment, he didn't care. All he knew was that he loved her.


End file.
